...From the very outset and with astonishing confidence in her approach, Christa Lühtje has been making a different kind of jewellery, a jewellery distinguished by its unmistakable form, its timelessness and its individuality. It is the kind of jewellery that asserts itself and yet, when worn for the very first time, immediately seems to have been made specially for the wearer, as though she has been wearing it for years. Whilst this jewellery can only have come from the hand of the goldsmith Christa Lühtje and, by the same token, only have been made during her lifetime, it nevertheless follows in a definite tradition...
...The ability to invent ornaments as integral elements of jewellery has become a rarity today. It is an ability peculiar to those who are sure of themselves and of the strength that resides within them. Christa Lühtje derives this sureness not only from her own inner strength but also from her appreciation of antique jewellery, saying quite simply: "I like the sense of calm and expanse that old things convey." It is so easy to say: "...expressing no great emotions, but rather reserve, calmness, openness ... " or: "... using one's craft in an ever new and more subtle way; with the boundless possibilities afforded by the properties inherent in the materials...". Words such as these sound almost unbelievable, but they do in fact correspond to Christa Lühtje's reality.
Whoever sees and makes jewellery as something completely natural is hard put to understand what is so exceptional about it. He or she sees it as a natural part of everyday life, almost as an organic attribute of its wearer, or, as Christa Lühtje so aptly puts it, as a "good companion".
Christa Lühtje's house on the outside of Munich mirrors the consistency that marks her life and her work. It is a simple house linked to her studio by a stretch of garden. She confesses that she needs this garden, indeed she could not do without it, probably because one cannot fully grasp nature if one works with only just a small part of it, with metal and stone. Light and growth, trees and plants are the essential complement...
Heinz Spielmann
